


Long Life

by Ferith12



Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: All Thoughts No Action, Angst, Gen, Introspection, but not terribly sad I don't think, from tumblr, hopeful?, i guess, yet again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 12:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13318086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferith12/pseuds/Ferith12
Summary: Rex is a thirty year old man in a sixty year old body.  But it would be more accurate to say that Rex is a machine with a three month warranty that’s been plugging along for thirty years now.





	Long Life

**Author's Note:**

> I'm moving all my stuff over from tumblr :)  
> Also, disclaimer that I have never watched Star Wars: Rebels.

Rex is a thirty year old man in a sixty year old body.

But it’s not as simple as that.  Sixty, by galactic standards, even without the best healthcare, really isn’t that old.  Humans often live to be twice that age.

It would be more accurate to say that Rex is a machine with a three month warranty that’s been plugging along for thirty years now.

Three months.  That’s how long the kaminoans expected a clone trooper to last in combat.  Six if you were command, but Rex was never intended to be that, the CCs of his legion just didn’t seem to remember they were supposed to outlive him. 

Rex never expected to see his eleventh birthday never dreamed he’d live past three months of battle.  But then, well, he did.  

He learned that war doesn’t follow rules.  Some clones die ten seconds into their first engagement, others just keep living, just because, and it doesn’t make a bit of difference whether you’ve got a CT or a CC in front of your number.

And Rex loved it.  Not outliving his brothers, no, but living.  He loved fighting, he loved seeing the galaxy, even if it was usually mostly broken when he got to it.  He had a purpose, to defend the republic, to protect civilians, to protect his Jedi, to lead.  And oh, how he loved to lead a good fight.

But three years of fighting, and fighting, and not dying but being left behind, three years is a long time when you’re thirteen.  Three years is a long time when you were expecting three months.

By the end of the clone war Rex already felt old.

Afterward, after everything fell apart, or fell apart more spectacularly and with more finality than it had before, Rex didn’t know what to do.

Making expectations on how long he’d last was something he’d given up on long ago, but it would be fair to say that he didn’t expect to actually succeed in evading the empire that would call him a traitor for as long as he did.

He no longer had a purpose, at least not one clearly spelled out for him, but he was alive, so he lived.

The clones were engineered for the short term.  They were made to grow up and grow old twice as fast.  They were also designed to be stronger, to run faster and farther, to go without food or sleep longer.  They were made to burn like wildfires, and turn to ash just as quickly.

He ended up hiding on a desolate rock with Wolffe and Greggor, their bodies slowly falling apart, with no clue how they’d survived this long, wondering when death was finally take them.

Retirement was fun in a lot of ways, actually.  It was good to not to have any responsibilities.  They acted like kids more than they acted like old men.

Then a Jedi came, asking for help and—

Rex was old now, he could feel it.  Clones weren’t made to last and his time was over.

But he was still alive.

Was there ever really a question?  Given the chance could he ever say no to a fight in the long run?

He was alive, and he could choose to keep existing on that hunk of dirt, waiting for his body to finally deteriorate, or he could get out there and spend what was left of his life doing what he was made to do (or what he had thought he had been made to do) fighting for a cause worth fighting for.

Of course he left with them in the end.

He is old, yes, but he is still a damn good fighter.  He is a clone trooper, so he will keep up.  He’s still a good shot, possibly the best in the galaxy (yes, there are probably some young force sensitives out there who were never taught blasters were beneath them, but that doesn’t count).  Rex knows, that you can’t place expectations on how long a life might last, and he’s finally learned that you can’t waste a second of it.


End file.
